An Army veteran and his family who were just weeks away from being made homeless have been given a place to live after their plight was highlighted by the Kentish Gazette.

Canterbury City Council stepped in at the last minute to help Trevor and Elaine Nutt days after they were issued a final eviction notice by the Ministry of Defence.

The couple were told they had to move out of their Howe Barrack’s home in Sobraon Way with their four sons, aged nine to 19, by June 21.

Mr Nutt, 44, a corporal for 24 years who served in Iraq and Kosovo, retired from the Army in January meaning he was no longer entitled to stay in the house.

Mrs Nutt, 48, said the council, despite promising to support those from the Armed Forces, told them they might have to temporarily move into a hostel as far away as Folkestone.

It would have meant her boys having to leave their schools and Mr Nutt, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, his security guard job at Debenhams.

But the family is now celebrating after the council announced a house has been found for them in Canterbury.

“Thank you to the Kentish Gazette for all your help,” said Mrs Nutt.

“We’re ecstatic. We just want to move in now.

“The only problem we’ve got is we’ve had our eviction notice for June 21 so the council is trying to get that extended for a month while we wait for the house to be ready.

“The MoD has been good to us allowing us to stay here (in Howe Barracks) six months longer than we should so we’re hoping they will let us have one more month.”

She said the boys, who attend Pilgrims’ Way Primary School and the Canterbury Academy, are over the moon.

“They can’t wait,” she said.

“We’ve had a look at the place. Trevor has already got plans for the garden.”

Mr Nutt was a corporal for The 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and served on seven operational tours.

He and his family have been living out of boxes for the past six months while waiting to be housed.

Speaking to the Gazette before they were found a place to live, he said it was putting a huge strain on his 20-year marriage.

“When I left the Army I was expecting it to be a good time,” he said.

“I thought I’d be settling down to lead a normal family life, but it’s been nothing but a battle.

“There have been times when one of us has almost walked out, and the children pick up on that tension.”

In September he moved from his base in Germany to Canterbury, where his wife grew up, and two of his sons started at Pilgrims’ Way Primary School, another at the Canterbury Academy and the eldest got a job at Home Bargains.

He has a fifth son, 26, who is away in the Army.

The couple were told they could keep their barracks accommodation until March 28 while the city council found them a permanent home.

The authority recently signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant pledging to support people who serve or have served, and their family members.

However, the Nutts were issued an eviction notice by the MoD demanding they be out on June 21, and were previously offered nothing except the possibility of a hostel, possibly in Whitstable, Herne Bay and Folkestone.